Taiwan Business Quick Take

Staff writer, with agencies

INVESTMENT

Taiwan ranks world’s No. 3

Taiwan’s investment environment is the third-best among the world’s 50 major economies after Singapore and Sweden, a report by Business Environment Risk Intelligence (BERI) said, citing better cross-strait trade relations and an increasing number of free-trade agreements. BERI forecast that Taiwan’s ranking would remain unchanged through 2018, the report said.

INVESTMENT

Germany hosts trade forum

Trade and Invest, Germany’s foreign trade and investment agency, is hosting a seminar in Taipei today to solicit Taiwanese investment in Europe’s largest economy. Visiting experts and high-level executives from the agency are to present current market trends and business solutions in Germany for Taiwanese entrepreneurs at the seminar.

LABOR

More workers on furlough

The number of employees put on unpaid leave more than tripled in the final two weeks of last month, statistics released by the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) yesterday showed. As of Saturday last week, 2,345 workers at 34 companies had agreed to be put on unpaid leave, the figures showed. That represents a large increase from the Aug. 15 figures, which recorded 717 workers at 32 companies agreeing to unpaid leave. The latest figures are the highest since Feb. 28 this year, when 2,547 employees agreed to be put on unpaid leave.